[75.01] An IUE Archival Study of the Hot White Dwarf in the Symbiotic Star RW Hydrae

D. Bambeck, E. M. Sion (Villanova Un.)

We have carried out an ultraviolet spectroscopic study of
the hot white dwarf in the eclipsing S-Type symbiotic
variable RW Hydra (Porb = 370.2 days), using all
available IUE archival low resolution and high resolution
spectra obtained at inferior conjunction (when the accreting
hot white dwarf is in front of the red giant). This system
is unique in that it is the only symbiotic variable known to
date in which the photospheric continuum from the hot white
dwarf can be directly detected. We present the results of a
deep search for white dwarf wind features and the results of
fitting the observed steeply rising far UV continuum with a
grid of NLTE solar composition model atmospheres. Using our
derived parameters for the white dwarf, we discuss the
evolutionary phase of the accreting white dwarf, whether
burning H near the surface in a steady state with accretion,
on the decline from a thermonuclear outburst, or lying along
a white dwarf cooling track.

This research is supported by NASA ADP grant NAG5-8388 to
Villanova University.

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